S04.E12: Behind the Ivy

[thewhiteowl]

An athletic scholarship student dies suddenly while training.

[OperaLover1229]

Awesome ending. 2 guys tossing a football. I guess Daddy is going to teach Baby Bulless to throw a football 🏈. 
 

[Bobbin]

On every other crime show, when a teenager is found to be using PEDs of any kind, the very first question is, where is he or she getting them? And it's never just one student. Lots of opportunities here for dramatic revelations, all left on the table.

I was diagnosed with a murmer 20 years ago. My PCP told me; my cardiologist forgot to mention it until I asked him, hasn't brought it up since. I probably have not thought to mention it on any questionaires, either. My pacemaker discovered my a-fib and automatically adjusted my heart rate -- I had to call the lab to see why my pulse suddenly went up. There are alot of health issues that aren't necessarily foremost in your mind.

It seems odd that the school's athletic standing rests entirely not just on wrestling, but on one weight class.

Agan, "The jury will disregard...." Sure it will. LOL.

[Ellee]

For some reason I thought this was going to involve the rest of the team.  

[jabRI]

17 hours ago, Ellee said:

For some reason I thought this was going to involve the rest of the team.  

I can't believe they didn't even interview the teammates or former athletes, to see if there was a pattern of behavior.  Just lucked out with finding the hacked email they couldn't have legally used.  Guess they didn't want to pay any more actors to have a speaking part.

[JessDVD]

I feel like the concept of "Coach pushes kids to keep weight down to stay in lower weight class" is used here like "I don't know anything about wrestling or human development or really much of anything but I remember once or twice my high school BFF's boyfriend not eating much lunch because he needed to drop a pound before weigh-in that day". Pushing the entire high school wrestling team to be what I'd guess is effectively malnourished (growing FIVE INCHES and not gaining any weight?!), does not seem like the path for young men to be able to wrestle at their peak capacity. I'm SURE that sometimes tactics like what was shown in the show are used in actual wrestling teams, to get the actual # down enough for weigh-in (sorta like how I, on a program similar to Weight Watchers, only weigh in first thing in the morning, after working out and using the bathroom, before eating, taking out all jewelry, etc), but I don't think they thought through the logic about that whole thing about all the boys on the team getting taller but not gaining any weight. I assume they were intending that to draw suspicion on the coach pushing the kids to stay in a weight class, but they missed the mark there. (I know, unprecedented activity for this show)

Apparently not-Cable went to some sort of extra fancy prep school where German I-III classes included vocabulary in medical terminology, including such oft-used phrases as juvenile mitral valve murmur, conveniently so that not-Cable (I know she has a name but it took me two seasons to learn Danny and Cable so here I am) would be able to read through Fancy Doctor's reports. Hopefully she also got hazard pay for translating all that German that never ended up being used.

Normally I look at these cases of parents suing or litigating after a child died and thinking, I understand where they're coming from (at least in theory) but I'm not sure if it'll get them the peace they're looking for. In this case (didn't I see another kid in their living room?) they can provide a significantly improved life for their other kid, but is it worth it?? I won't presume to conclude how other people would feel in a situation I've never experienced, but my gut level reaction is that I would feel horribly guilty, living a life of ease only given to me on the back of my child's death. It's one thing if the litigation is to pay medical bills or cover funeral expenses, but as far as I could tell in this one, that didn't appear to be part of it. So while I'm glad for these fictional characters who appeared once in a TV show and will now disappear into the writers' room Bermuda Triangle... I wonder if $5 million is really worth it.

[jabRI]

The husband did say if they settled it would allow his wife not to work for a while, to have time to grieve/heal, so i understand that. Most people live paycheck to paycheck.

[JessDVD]

Right - but the school offered them a settlement that would have given them that - I don't think $500k is "never work again" in any part of the country but I'm fairly sure in most if not all parts, it would allow a family to take a couple years totally off of work, or pay off their house/other debt which could allow them to work fewer hours or have more monthly wiggle room. But they chose the litigation route. That's what I was wondering about. After litigating, they now have $5.3 MILLION, which is probably "never work again" in most parts of the country - and if New Jersey isn't, certainly gives them the ability to start over someplace where it is. So, was it worth it? Life of ease, never work again unless you want to, financial issues all solved - but only because your kid died. I'm ABSOLUTELY not making a judgment call on anyone who has done this IRL. It's just that in these TV shows, they always make it seem like the money they get from litigating, brings all the peace they need from the loved one's passing, and I wonder if that's really how it pans out in real life.

[Netfoot]

34 minutes ago, JessDVD said:

It's just that in these TV shows, they always make it seem like the money they get from litigating, brings all the peace they need from the loved one's passing, and I wonder if that's really how it pans out in real life.

I doubt any amount of money would bring peace after the loss of a loved-one, but the $5M was punitive, and I guess you might experience some satisfaction to know that the bastards suffered at least that much punishment for what they did.

Plus, your loved-one is gone now, and there is no advantage to not accepting the money. Especially if you know that as a result, your other children will not need - and therefore won't be driven to extreme lengths to achieve/retain -  scholarships.

Sure, celebrating the win solely because of the settlement doesn't seem realistic, but the settlement can punish the wrong-doers, and allow the family to adopt a more supportive, dare I say "better" lifestyle for the family ongoing. 

[lh25]

4 hours ago, JessDVD said:

Normally I look at these cases of parents suing or litigating after a child died and thinking, I understand where they're coming from (at least in theory) but I'm not sure if it'll get them the peace they're looking for.

I thought they said they wanted to sue so that they, and everyone else, would know what happened?  That taking the settlement meant they would just go away and not know any more then the autopsy showed.

[Sarah 103]

There was a little detail that seemed off to me. Based on how old the son was, I thought he was born before anti-vaxers became more common. I thought the question on the medical form would have been, "have you had vaccines for measles, mumps, and ruebella," not have you had the diseases. It's also possible I misheard the line. 

[LuvMyShows]

On 1/20/2020 at 11:31 PM, OperaLover1229 said:

Awesome ending. 2 guys tossing a football. I guess Daddy is going to teach Baby Bulless to throw a football 🏈. 

With how much Bull is getting into prep for being a dad, I am getting a bad feeling about this, like she is going to miscarry.  I could see the show ending the season with that, thinking that it was dramatic.

[Mrs. Stanwyck]

I suppose that is possible but we did have the episode earlier in the season where Bull's grown daughter is recounting a case to her boyfriend.

[LuvMyShows]

1 hour ago, Mrs. Stanwyck said:

I suppose that is possible but we did have the episode earlier in the season where Bull's grown daughter is recounting a case to her boyfriend.

Ooh, I don't remember that...what was it all about?!

[Mrs. Stanwyck]

It was the first episode of this season.  The show went along as normal but the last scene was a couple out in a field and she had been telling him the story of this case.  She made some reference to her dad and Uncle Benny and you hear Bull's voice call out from the house for them to come inside for dinner or something like that.

It was just a one-off scene and there hasn't been anything else like it in any of the other episodes but it certainly indicated that Bull was having a daughter who lived to at least young adulthood.

 

[LuvMyShows]

21 hours ago, Mrs. Stanwyck said:

It was the first episode of this season.  The show went along as normal but the last scene was a couple out in a field and she had been telling him the story of this case.  She made some reference to her dad and Uncle Benny and you hear Bull's voice call out from the house for them to come inside for dinner or something like that.

It was just a one-off scene and there hasn't been anything else like it in any of the other episodes but it certainly indicated that Bull was having a daughter who lived to at least young adulthood.

 

Thanks!

[Sake614]

More than young adulthood. She was very pregnant too.